Unfortunately, the stuff in the Liked section is always forgotten and the stuff in the Improve section sticks around in the mind forever.
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The whole review scene has gotten outright creepy, Give a podium to a fool and he will feel he has to say something, no matter how ignorant or pretentious he will sound. Besides I donât really want to read what I should do or what someone else thinks about my place ~after the fact~, we can tell each other in person what we think, face to face. This eliminates the incessant paranoia worrying about the âcowardâ type of review.
My vote is with a 10-star system, short and sweet, and saves a lot of logistical hassle for AirBnB and may eliminate a lot of paranoia on the part of many hosts.
Despite the fact I have gotten outrageously positive reviews, I can really sympathize with many hosts that do not have an outrageously-unusual place, but have to worry so much what a total stranger has to say about their private home, which I am sure takes a lot of the fun out of hostingâŚ
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Mearns have you got that right.,but sadly, I fear I would fare worse on a star system. 
you are right about reviews becoming over emphasized and how they take all the fun out of hosting. Itâs my least favorite part of hosting.
I think the review system, headache that it is, is a good way to keep things real and transparent. I do think, that after a number of reviews, say 50 or say 100, you should have the right to purge one per year. That said, even if that were allowed, I wouldnât know which one to ditch. All are positive but a few have some backhanded cracks.
Itâs a losing battle, sadly.
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I also dont think that some guests really understand what those stars are. I just opened my stats report and was shocked to see that 2 of my last guests left me 4 and 3* . These were the happiest most praising me and my house guests. This is what the lady wrote to me:
Dear Yana and Igor!Thank you so much for your incredible hospitality. Yana, i am sorry that i did not get to meet you in person. Thank you for all your help with the details of my stay. It was very very nice!!
And this is what another couple wrote:
On behalf of Alex and me i want to thank you for making us feel at home and for worrying about us and for all the extras you and your husband did for us. This was the best homestay for us. We will remember our conversations, Your spirit and personality thats what made out stay so comfortable.
How do you leave someone just Meh ratings after such notes?. I want to think that just dont realize that 3 its actually bad.
I have now 78 reviews at 75% 5*. I was already 79% a month ago but these few through me back again.
After my stay with Superhost in SF with 14 reviews and total mess in a house i dont really believe in credibility of this super host thing
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I still donât know how to follow the calculation of the stars and find out who left me what rating, I just donât want to go there;
I am usually a super host, yet this season I only got 50% 5 stars rating - no idea why, no idea who, everyone was nice, no one left me any "tipsâ to improve, and I hosted the same way as always.
Im sure we are all doing our best, and its enough to see what they write, making ourselves crazy by how others judge us privately, and for what reason, will just leave us paranoid and demoralised.
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Can you email these guests and ask them to edit? I know they can edit the reviews, but not sure about the stars. I think some people think five stars are for the Ritz. 
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It was a long time ago. I dont even remember how they look.
IF they stayed in Ritz, not likely for my kind of guests:)
Wait. What? Since when can you edit? Can hosts edit?
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@CatskillsGrrl
Only for a short period of time. I have 15 hours left to edit for guests who left on Thursday. So it must be a 48 hour window. Thereâs an edit button.
It used to be automatic! You had 48 hours to edit! Now itâs by special permission. I recently got a guest to change a terrible review (that she says came out worse than she meant) by writing to them and asking. Then they approve her version and bang, the old one was replaced.
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I didnât ask for permission, itâs just there to edit
I think in our case the 48 hour period had elapsed and that is why she needed the special permission.
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Elizabeth - some people just have totally unrealistic expectations. I too wish I knew WHO left what star count. All I know is that the last 3 guests have been SUPER picky, and suddenly my perfect star count is not so perfect. Some suggestions here have been good, but others I KNOW wouldnât work - such as increase price. Good heavens - the more you increase the price, the more they want. Another says donât offer freebies - again, some hosts I have stayed with have said that if they didnât offer freebies, they wouldnât get any bookings. Funny enough, it is work guys who use my place as a mid stop on long work runs who leave the best reviews. The older âgrey nomadsâ still expect a 5-Star plus resort, with me waiting on them hand and foot. I will not have instant booking, as I want to thoroughly vet any prospective guests. From now on will use my own saying - âif in doubt, donâtâ.
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Could be so, or could be they âthinkâ if they donât offer goodies they wouldnât get any bookings, but have never tried not offering them. That is how myths get established.
Sounds to me like is time for either a break and/or develop a new philosophy,: You ARE dealing with child-like people, and perhaps from here onward you should do your best and not worry what they think, say or write. Perhaps your new formal air will cause them to want to please you, rather the other way around.
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So, what happens in a situation like the one I just had? The guests messaged me to ask where they could buy extra trash bags (a sign of clean and tidy guests!) and that they couldnât figure out how to use the coffee machine. (Although there is a manual for it in the apartment).
I was there within two minutes of getting their message. They are lovely guests and intelligent, but English isnât their first language and this is their first time in the US. I showed them how to use the coffee machine (and the cafetiere just in case they forgot) plus gave them extra trash bags. Five minutes or less, problem solved.
How do remote hosts handle these things?
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I have never been asked how to use the coffee machine, but I have talked a few seniors through using the remotes and how to use Roku ⌠and explained what it is. Oh, and how to turn off the smoke alarm when their cooking sets it off, which happens more than I would like. (I am alerted on my phone by my smoke alarm, too, so I can usually anticipate their text.)
I just text back, or call, and in the rare occasion I canât fix it over the phone I do have two people in the area who can come over. But only once have I had to bring somone in when a guest was in residence and it was because the water filter had totally clogged. (I thought the line froze.)
But I donât get many non-US residents. Only once a family traveling from England to pick up their son in college. Nothing like a coffee maker confuses my guests.
Note that these guests didnât even know how to use a cafetiere! The coffee machine is pretty complex - even I have to use the manual on the rare occasions I use it. Plus they are very young and their English is not good. Thereâs no way I could have explained how to use the machine via phone or text.
Funny how hosts and guests differ - Iâve never had a problem with seniors not understanding how things work. The only one I remember was a lady who couldnât connect to the wifi on her iPad but thatâs because the wifi was temporarily down - no fault of hers or ours 
Oh! I had guys who were complaining about the wifi and it turned out they had unplugged the modem to plug in all their devices.
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i agree about work people. They are the nicest. I always had good reviews from them and they are very good about house rules.
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They come and go easily, and most importantly, have somewhere to be during the day.
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